Silence.
That was the first thing Aiden noticed when the light faded.
Not the comfortable kind — but a silence so complete, it rang like pressure against his thoughts.
He stood on what used to be the central plaza of the World Engine. Once, it had been alive with movement — the clash of swords, the hum of energy, the chatter of a thousand voices coded to mimic human joy. Now, all of it had frozen.
The sky hung motionless, locked in mid-render. Clouds, once dynamic and ever-shifting, were suspended like painted illusions. Pixels drifted in the air like falling snow, but they never touched the ground.
Everywhere he looked, time had stopped.
NPCs stood mid-step, their eyes vacant — artificial souls paused mid-thought. A child reaching for her mother's hand. A merchant holding up a glowing gem to a customer who would never respond. A soldier caught mid-scream, his blade frozen inches from his opponent's chest.
